The Making of a Tyrant Salva Kiir: Not yet Uhuru!

It is high time the SPLM tore down the misleading slogan of “equality, justice, freedom and prosperity for all,” which litters our streets and invades our public spaces. Recent events in the country have demonstrated that the president is a dysfunctional and fundamentally wicked man who is gradually stripping away our human liberties and dignities.

Human beings are by nature autonomous, it is the ability to make autonomous decisions which differentiates man from animals. It is for this reason that we must vigorously defend and protect our hard won freedom and independence.

Over the last 8 years, Salva Kiir, the man whom southerners thought was a “good-guy” in contrast to his predecessor, late Dr. John Garang, has gradually transformed himself into a national monster. We gave him the chance, because each time Salva did something wrong, we never called “a spade a spade” but gave excuses on his behalf, just as we did during the liberation struggle when we never wanted to “rock the boat”.

This mentality continued as late as 2010 during the general elections, when we had the chance to scrutinise his credentials but didn’t. By the time of re-writing of the Transitional Constitution 2011, it was too late to challenge President Salva or hold him to account. The incumbent had already consolidated his grip on power and very few dared to oppose him.

The lawyers whom the country thought they could rely upon, to use their professional expertise and judgements to deliver for us a Constitution worthy of the name, failed the nation. They chose to appease Salva Kiir to protect their jobs and privileges and gave Salva Kiir a Constitution which made him above the emerging nation’s supreme law. And now the president is using it with vengeance.

What is alarming is that within a short space of two years, Salva Kiir has turned the country which our people won with their blood and sweat into a personal kingdom. Initially the people of South Sudan wanted preservation of the federal provisions in the Interim Constitution 2005; they also wanted a clear separation of powers— firstly, between the three organs of the state: i.e. the executive, the legislature and the judiciary at the national level; and secondly separation of powers between the federal government and state governments.

They got none. Even the sacred Bill of Rights for which southerners fought consecutive Khartoum regimes, sacrificed and died in their millions for is being routinely derogated.

Just to emphasize the point, President Kiir has further damaged our nascent state institutions by appointing his relatives to head our judiciary and the Bank of South Sudan. Why are we surprised when injustice is the order of the day and millions of public funds are being siphoned daily into external private accounts and fake companies?

It has finally come to light that the President actually writes directly to these appointee relatives instructing them what to do, thereby, directly interfering with established institutional mechanisms and procedures. By so doing, he is not only violating our Constitution but is fundamentally dismantling the very foundation of our nascent country and its fledgling democracy.

In the most unprecedented manner in the short history of modern South Sudan, the president turned monarch rules by decrees. Worst of all, in peace time, southerners are being killed daily by their own security forces under the careful watch of the President.

We may not like it but it is fair to say that there is blood in the hands of the incumbent president, Salva Kiir Mayardit.

In deed there is no other way to describe Kiir’s regime other than that it is a system ”rotten to the core”; a statement which made the eminent Professor Nyamlel Wako, the former deputy minister of foreign affairs to be swiftly dismissed. This Professor who like many others abandoned his relative comfort in the US and answered to the call of nation building is now being humiliated and literally being made to roam the streets of Juba.

If there was no tribalism, the Professor should have actually been the then minister of foreign affairs to be deputised by Nial Deng and not the other way round.

The painful contradiction here is that whereas Salva and his inner circle are barking that there are no qualified southerners to run our systems, or develop policies, he is following the footsteps of former African dictators who were essentially anti-educated people, and did their part in forcing exodus of educated nationals into distant and foreign countries.

Today we are sadly seeing the learned from amongst us being silenced, eliminated or forced into exile in neighbouring countries. Extermination of our educated people who should be helping to lay the foundation for our economy, industry, technology, education, medicine… etc. should one day be accounted for.

In a short period of time, the president has become addicted to abusing power and abusing his people. If we thought that Salva Kiir would lead us to freedom from the atrocities, oppression, marginalisation and dehumanisation by Khartoum, and into the celebrated promised-land for all, we were mistaken.

Little did we know that our very own “liberators” in the form of Salva Kiir Mayardit, the boy from Warrap, would waste no time in turning our hard-won independence into a play-ground for testing his man-hood.

Salva Kiir can now remove elected governors at will. He has removed an elected VP his running mate during the 2010 general elections without observing the Transitional Constitution 2011, which requires him to secure 2/3 parliamentary majority should he desire to remove the former Vice-President.

I am not a supporter of Riek Machar, not yet, but this was unconstitutional and the truth must be said. Only people who have sold their souls and lost their consciences can celebrate when our Constitution is being violated.

True to the point, as people were still reeling from the political tsunami unleashed by sacking his entire cabinet and removing the elected VP, the newly emboldened President wasted no time in trimming the horns of Cde Pagan Amum, the Secretary General of the SPLM.

Salva Kiir has now clearly demonstrated that he is the absolute ruler in South Sudan. He sees himself as immune from the safeguards of modern democracies; does not contemplate any SPLM party rebellion or impeachment by his parliament.

If you are still not convinced, look at the arrogance and disrespect he treated elected MP’s. Instead of lobbying the MP’s in a civilised manner to support his nominee, Wani Igga, for the post of VP, without provocation, he lost his temper and threatened to “dissolve the parliament and make the lawmakers roam in the streets”, (Sudan Tribune 24th August 2013.

“The President came in with bad mood and introduced to us Cde James Wani Igga for his nomination as the new Vice President. Then he started to threaten us with dissolutions and dismissals. After he finished with his threats nobody spoke and the meeting ended like that. We will now sit today as parliament to see what to do”. What could they do? Within hours, the Parliament capitulated and like a spoilt child, Kiir got his way.

But Kiir needs to be reminded that he has no right to treat elected MP’s contemptuously just to boost his crumbling ego. By so doing he is not just disrespecting individual MP’s, governors, elected VP, and the list continues, he is disrespecting the will of the people of South Sudan.

If Kiir doesn’t respect our Constitution, he doesn’t respect our Institutional structures and mechanisms and clearly doesn’t respect our elected representatives, what gives him the right to rule over us?

The people have given him so much, not that he deserves it, not any more in my opinion, but what has he given back in return, in this social contract between the ruled and the rulers?

If he was frustrated because the Parliament rejected his nominee, infamous Telar Ring, in any game or competition, there are winners and losers.

Kiir is not only intolerant to criticisms but doesn’t expect to be challenged by colleagues in government. In short he is a very bad looser. In modern democracies, we need leaders who are emotionally balanced and can honourably accept defeats.

As we position ourselves for the upcoming elections, we now need to dissect the attributes of not just Kiir the man but also Kiir the father and Kiir the husband. If a president can charge at his MP’s and SPLM Parliamentary caucuses at that, what example is he showing to our army as the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and what example is he showing to the country at large?

Some people might be stuck in the past but whether we like it or not we live in the 21st century and it is high time we start scrutinising not just the academic credentials of our prospective leaders but also their characters and the manner they present and conduct themselves in public. After all these people once elected will represent us at home and abroad, and this should concern us.

To prevent repeat of situations where some African despots in not too distant a past, showered bullets on colleagues in cabinet meetings, we need to weed out the emotionally unstable candidates in the public interest.

Kiir, Equatoria and Cde Wani Igga

We also live in an era where models of good governance to include participatory, inclusive and representative democracies – democracies that take into account the different political variables or diversities in a country; democracies that do not discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, religion or gender.

South Sudan is essentially a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural society. In Kiir’s latest cabinet, there is a gross under-representation of Equatoria which got only 3 out of 19 or 20 cabinet portfolios. I stand to be corrected but one ethnic group has 10 or 11 members while most of the 60 or so tribes that are unrepresented in the national government look on.

This situation is replicated in the security services, the judiciary and in the diplomatic services. Eastern Equatoria state has no ministerial representation apart from Obuto Mamur who sits in the presidency.

Could you imagine Warrap, Lakes or Jonglei states having no ministerial position in the federal cabinet? Hell would break loose!

And yet in his political machinations, Kiir is trying to woo the people of Equatoria whom he has marginalised and oppressed for 8 years by a simple vice-presidential post for Wani Igga. This is cheap politics.

If Kiir didn’t fall out with his former VP and SPLM guru Pagan Amum, he would never have remembered that the seat of his government is in the land of Equatoria. This is not the time to support the man who is allowing our people to be killed day and night in Juba and elsewhere in South Sudan.

Let us remember that history always repeats itself: once a dictator, always a dictator.

If we make the mistake to throw in our lot with Salva in less than a year after the election in 2015, we will be crying foul again. Let us be clear about one thing, Salva doesn’t want the people of Equatoria but only wants their votes come 2015.

If we support Salva then we must forever hold our peace when he moves in his tanks or brings in mercenaries to clear our land of people in not too distant a future.

Going back to the Wani Igga issue, the question one could ask is, what is that Wani can do as a Vice President which he couldn’t do as Speaker of the national parliament? Which position is more powerful in the eyes of Wani Igga?

Is Wani interested in personal glorification, and being called a good boy or as a good parliamentarian he should have been first and foremost interested in representing and protecting his constituents?

His very constituents are being butchered daily and he has not been able to offer them justice. After raising the expectation of the latest victims in his constituency by summoning the security ministers to account, he has abandoned them yet again.

Was Wani’s sudden appointment a sabotage to ensure that the perpetrators of these heinous double murders are left at large?

If Wani was more interested serving his people, then he should have remained in the Assembly to exercise the Constitutional mandate to hold the executive to account and especially to impeach the President over the many violations of our Constitution.

If however what he wants is being a yes man and to entertain the increasingly paranoid president with his famous song: baba ja…..blah blah blah, baba ja blah blah (my father has come….) then indeed being a deputy is what he deserves.

It must be said, moving from the third most powerful position in the country to the second most powerful position is not bad at all, it is a personal best for a man from humble beginnings. Good luck to comrade Wani.

No one would have taken Wani’s claim to contest for presidency in 2015 seriously and it is good that he has now declared otherwise. Wani Igga, it must be stated, is an individual who may represent the SPLM but does not represent Equatoria.

It is also important to read between the lines about Kiir’s malicious intention to divide the Southern people according to tribes or regions. There should be no ill feelings from our allies over the case of Wani.

It will be an over statement to assume that just because Wani Igga accepted the vice –presidency, reportedly rejected by Nuer nominees allegedly in solidarity with their dismissed kinsman, Riek Machar.

Wani’s acceptance of the rejected offer doesn’t automatically mean that Equatorians now all support Salva Kiir. That would be a gross overstatement. Equatorians are not just worth a vice-presidential position.

Infact accepting what has been rejected by others means that Wani was not the first or trusted choice of the President. This alone speaks volumes, but it is best to leave the matter to rest.

Not yet Uhuru

What we now need to focus on is to ensure that Salva Kiir is punished for his irresponsible leadership of our country over the last 8 years. Over the last 8 years, the SPLM government he presided over, did not only fail to deliver peace dividends in the forms of services, security and general development.

The SPLM government under the careful watch of the security officer turned president, has introduced new vices in our society. It will be fair to say that more people have died in the hands of the SPLM government than they did in the hands of jallaba at least in some quarters.

Places that didn’t know violence before are today routinely being rocked by senseless killings as if there is no government in the land. Speculations that these atrocities were being committed by security agents fell on deaf ears.

Kiir may come from a generation in South Sudan who believed that when you come from a so-called majority tribe then you are immune to safe guards of modern democracy.

In the theory of number politics, as long as you are from a majority tribe, you will always win, so unlike in Western democracies, you have no incentives to govern well.

Kiir has destroyed our institutions; he has destroyed our beloved federal constitution; he is destroying even the SPLM party. Quite astonishingly he is disabling our assemblies rendering them in effective. The good news is that this time there is no boat to rock, therefore we must stop Kiir and get things right come the next elections.

The war of liberation was fought by all communities in the territory called South Sudan not just Kiir alone. From the war archives of south Sudan we still need to see those battles Kiir led and won to justify elevating himself to the position of a hereditary monarch.

What we know is that he was a malleable follower who never had the courage to articulate his views on critical matters. At least late Dr. John Garang might not have won any battles but he did fight the war of ideas rather successfully.

These individuals and communities Kiir is oppressing and suppressing today have all sacrificed through blood and sweat for the freedom that we attained in July, 2011 which we are supposed to be enjoying today.

With good governance, there is enough land and natural resources for every South Sudanese now and in the future. We do not need to fight over land because every community in South Sudan has their ancestral land which government has no right to confiscate.

We do not need to fight over who should lead us because we have democratic processes to determine that, and it must be emphasized that the Constitution guarantees every southerner the right to compete for the highest office in the land.

National leadership is not for Dinka or Nuer alone. Every southerner from any community can aspire to become the president of this country if he/she has the ability and ambition to lead. It is not a crime to aspire for leadership position in your country specially that presumably no one is now a second class citizen in their own country.

Therefore it stands to reason that we should stop demonising those aspiring to contest for President, whether they are Lam Akol or Riek Machar or anybody else for that matter.

Leadership Attributes

But we need to be careful about our choice of leaders. We need leaders who though not necessarily PhD holders but must have sufficient education to comprehend and appreciate the complexities of today’s world and should be able to function autonomously in advanced technological era without always relying on advice of tribal mafia to the detriment of the nation.

We need leaders who can think with their heads and hearts and who can empathize with or feel the suffering of their people.

We need leaders who will promote equal opportunities for all and not practice indiscriminate tribalism or nepotism.

We do not want leaders who routinely allow or encourage guns to be turned against their citizens instead of using them to protect us and our borders.

We reject leaders who divide communities for political advantages or to square off old scores, whether this happened in 1991 or not.

If the history of the liberation war was clean I am sure the meticulous Dr. John Garang would have insisted on a whole set of Protocols on forgiveness and reconciliation. He didn’t which means no one was clean in the theatre of war. And this must include the late doctor, Salva Kiir, his former VP and other commanders.

History should not be remembered just to target individuals we do not like or wish are dead. The last 8 years has provided us with enough data to discern who is a good leader and who is not. This is what we should now focus on and not some tribally coated witch–hunting.

To conclude on this piece, Kiir has allowed atrocities to grow unabated in our land. He continues to violate even the Transitional Constitution 2011, which he imposed on us against our will.

Kiir is the champion of unprecedented institutional tribalism, not to mention kleptocracy with impunity. Under Kiirs leadership South Sudan has gained the reputation of a failed state and is also officially one of the corrupt countries on the continent.

He is on record for creating the fastest police state the continent has ever witnessed. This man is destroying the very foundation upon which our nation should be built, what further evidence do we want?

The gallant peoples of South Sudan fought wars with oppressors and colonisers spanning over a hundred years, starting with the Turco-Egyptians, then the Anglo Egyptians and finally the Northern Arabs. They had little or no education education and little weapons but fought with spears and arrows against machine guns but did not capitulate.

It is often said that no one can oppress you without your consent; even battered housewives have the choice to walk away.

It is now our responsibility as autonomous thinking human beings to stop Salva Kiir from damaging our country further and from destroying our dreams and expectations of a free, democratic, and prosperous country for all to enjoy not just a select few.

We owe it to ourselves, our children and grand children and the future generations at large. We owe it to the many who are aggrieved and denied justice. It is our responsibility to leave South Sudan a better place than we had found it not worse.

So that the dear sacrifices we have all made in blood, tears and sweat shall not go in vain. Because as Odinga Oginga, would have put it, for many people in South Sudan today, it is not yet Uhuru.

52 Comments

Salva Kir is just another african dictator and if south sudanese don’t reject his authoritarianism now it will be too late and they will regret. i doubt if he will accept to leave that office even in the next two terms, he will fight any democratic process that will remove him. Like dictator Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya or Yoweri Museveni, he will rule for decades and will steal from the public and government institution .it is the high time the southerners revolt this guy…by Mumosh ,Kenyan

This is one of the best seasoned articles I ever read. It is full of intellectual analysis and arguments. Salva Kiir is a liability to South Sudan for sure. He is a hangover and the people of South Sudan have stuck with him. It is time to face the devil before he breeds more devils by 2015.
Poor Wani Igga was rejected by Salva Kiir himself, calling him a weak unpopular man with no use to support him. Kiir was looking for another Nuer as new VP to replace Riek Machar and mobilize the Nuer community behind his leadership. But because all the Nuer leaders Kiir approached for the position turned down his offer, he went for his unwanted choice – Wani Igga, with a second thought that Wani will give him peace of mind internally as a guaranteed yes man.
Kiir is not a leader, actually he is an accidental leader, got the throne mentally unprepared when the charismatic late leader, Dr. John Garang died mysteriously in the hands of Ugandan pilots and helicopter. We need to stop this devil (Kiir) before he multiplies.

It is crystal clear that it is the constitution that allows a leader to do what they want to do. Is the presidential decree one of these “Yes” it is. Where is president Salva Kiir wrong when it comes to presidential decrees?. Presidential decree is not out of the blue, it the constitution that gave that right to the president as nobody is above the law.

Is president Kiir making his own decision, I would say “No” as he is acting on the advice of his Advisors. The Queen is not wrong at any given time it is the law that president Kiir is acting upon. There is no excuse about the law. It is the law and remains what it is the “Law” If president Kiir is meddling with the law, using the same law that put him in to take him out, period.
Who is above Law if we abide by the law that we say is the law?. Do not blame the president, it is the constitution that needs to be corrected or rewritten. It is the Law.

Justin Chicago Opiny, you are not serious man. Yes it is the mistake of South Sudanese law makers in passing that constitution, however, Salva Kiir has over implemented the constitution by threatening the National Assembly in dissolving it. The constitution says Kiir can only dissolve STATE Assembly period but not National. The constitution also allows Kiir to sack elected governor if there is a Nation security threat and that was true for Jonglei State but not Lakes and Unity. That same constitution which he is using will hunt him down by all costs.

Well done, Joana. But please do not reveal our hearts to slavish kiir sycophants and followers. For us in our region he is already a finished man. Even our unborn babies and children do not like him at all.

Let those who did not want this articles hang themselves, period. We all know that “lighting of a lamp to a blind person is a waste of fuel”. So go please, Joana Adams!!

Joana Adams,
How do you expect the South Sudanese readership to understand the word ‘uhuru’? And you shameless stuck it up there at the heading. Why was it hard for you to use the word free instead of uhuru? Please dont go pick words from foreign media and then come paste the for the large masses of another country. I know the circumstances in which the statement, “Not Yet Uhuru” was given.
You call Pagan Amuom an SPLM guru? You may be out of your mind. I completely lacked interest in this article in which so many words and statements were borrowed from foreign media.

I thought you are an intellectual person, but you seem to be a disgrace in this website. What is wrong if Joana used the word Uhuru? Do you want to limit yourself to colonial terminologies only, what about African written and unwritten dictionaries? The word guru is also your masters terminology but not Joana’s. please spare your good time to educate yourself!!

Dear Joseph,
I did not disagree with the use of the word ‘guru’. I know the English word ‘guru’ but what I fail to understand is within which context is it associated with Pagan. Pagan Amuom is no longer an SPLM guru. Certainly he would have fitted the description but now he only passes as an embattled SPLM secretary general.
Joseph, you are pushing for a new colonialism when you push us towards accepting a Kenyan word instead of using a word South Sudanese masses can understand.
Joseph, you are very intelligent. Please first come teach our people swahili before you start talking to them in that language.
I am really dying to learn. Whenever you are ready I will attend your classes.

@Joana,
You ‘ve disgraced yourself and your article by appraising the current governance to be worst than your Slave-masters oppressors who rename and refer to your Ancestors’ Land as Lubyas mafi, Rujal mafi, Athala Bara and Beet el abiadh.
What a shame on your childish article!
It took you some good years to be recognised as an intellectual but with no time that you put on a woman shoes that obviously proves and describes your weak analysis not other than being titled as a housewife, even a woman in the Kitchen can clearly tells the difference between your so called Arab time in governance and the living standard of your Equatorians in the current situation.
Stop giving yourselves a hard time to express your feeling about Dinka which is the top agenda to almost every equatorian coz your fate and ambition is clear to most of our intellectuals wherever they are and we have known you more than how you express yourselves with your bootless perceptions.

Joana, Can you define the roles of speaker before blaming former speaker Wani Igga? Does the speaker govern a country or just deal with meetings or debates which are not proposed by speaker nor does he contribute except being neutral in parliament and directs the questions to right people.
I can term your challenging to Wani as a baseless or individual grudge toward him.

Wani Igga never achieved anything since the beginning of struggle. What do you expect Igga to change at this time? Wani Igga has been in the SPLA movement to increase the number of commanders but never attempted to attack any village from the government in Greater Equatoria. Kiir is just surrounding himself with yes people and you appreciate his foolish decisions. What kind of world are you living in it today?

The article met standard professional test. The argument presented is very compelling and must be applauded instead of condemnation. Obviously, you die-hard fanatics of tyrant dictator Kiir will not like to face the facts. But must bluntly be told to get it right that we the majority have an absolute power to speak our minds.
You clannish few supporters of our dictator got to realize your days are numbered with tribal president. It is a matter of time for the masses to catch up with you however you like it. We didn’t fear Arabs and we have guts not to fear you as well.

This article is a master piece. I hope the dailies will have the courage to republish it in Juba. Joana, you have joined El Hag, the Editor, lo Luyuong, and many others to make the dictator know that he is being watched and analysed. As the battered wife, Equatoria can walk away from this increasingly primitive-dominated country!

excellent argument and intellectually balanced. reading through the whole article i found it very interesting from the beginning to the end. consequently, we need more brave people like you to liberate ourselves from Kiir and his family. keep it up, more articles, please.

Now coming to my main point: I agree with almost everything you mentioned. But next article don’t make examples about Nuer and Dinka as if they are acting intentionally together against Equatorians. Although Nuer and Dinka share many things culturally, they differ in treatment towards other tribes.
If you could do a little research, you will find that the Nuer are very welcoming people. As a result, there are a lot of Dinkas, Anuak and other tribes living in peace among the Nuer. Which is not the case in places where Dinkas live.
Secondly, Nuer did not form the government which consists of 10 or 11 ministers all from Nuer. But Kiir did it. However, it is unfair to generalize Dinka, there are good people out there.

Salva must be underestimating the people of South Sudan, but in 2015 he will sit under the porch of his hut in Warap. What will happen in 2015 will be the same with what the Southerners taught the oppressive Khartoum regime in 2011. Khartoum had thought it would have simply bought us to vote for Unity. To its disappointment, we overwhelmingly voted to go. Given the hurtful eight (will be ten years in 2015) years Kiir has led South Sudan, how in the world is he hopeful that he will win 2015? If he could not achieve anything in ten years, how does he thinks in five more years from 2015 he will develop the country to the satisfaction of the people?
I am thankful that people such as Joana are keenly observing the dictator and teaching the people about him. It is too late for him. No matter what he does now, he is done.

to me the speaker has more role to play while in the Parliament, because since he/she the one who guides people representatives call mp,s so he has big role to play to tackle the rampant corruption, for instance, kirr and Telar Ring signed a $600 million dollar deal by two people only to buy piece of land for national security without consent of the people representatives mps or council of ministers on the most expensive land on earth.
public money have being wired by kirr signature day and night and idle mps don’t know what is going on, many of them were surprised during the vetting of Telar document huge amount of fund.
and the question is who’s fighting the corruption, is president fighting corruption? if no, then why he used to talk about corruption in every public speak like song?

It’s really constructive article based on facts…. She spoke the truth when stated rightly that atrocities and crimes being committed under the rule of Dinka-Salva kiir it was unprecedented even under Northern control. When Northerners are there no grabbing of land like what’s happening today in juba, no killing in the streets….all reports coming from foreign media says that south Sudan state it going to collapse for many reasons such as corruption…power struggling ..tribalism ..ectra.
I urge on all my former fellows countrymen to make historical and courageous decision to rejoin old sudan this will be better than Salva- Dinka hell .

Dear Jalabi
Pls go away with your trivial Arab propaganda. We in the RSS will solve our own problems as brothers and sisters. If I could ask: why is your well managed Sudan cleansing people of African descent in Darfur, South Kordifan and Blue Nile? What is happening in our country is not different from what is happening in your country. After all you are responsible for corrupting the leaders of RSS. There will be no unity with you under any circumstance. Bugger off.

This is the response I have been waiting to see from you as a nationalist and very concerned Citizen of the Republic of South Sudan. I have never agreed with you before, however I give you a brotherly kiss on your cheeks today for giving a heroic response to that confused Jalaba. I was going to reply it but I decided to wait and see your reaction to that Jalaba’s comment. Your reply to that mundukuru is very accurate and to the point. Please Keep it up. Bravo! Job well done!

Thank you brother, elhag Paul. How much our political opinions differ, our country comes first. How I used to think about you is now very very different. Those of Jalabi thought they would land on some soft targets, but this is not South Sudan of 1955. We can differ, oppose ourselves, agree, disagree but within a free African state of south sudan.

Welcome back, Joana Adams. You’ve been missed. No more ministerial post to be busy with? Just joking! Always enjoy your lucid, thorough writing that gets to the heart of the matter.

One general comment for everyone. Kiir should go, yes, but don’t think the last 8 years have been about one man only. He has also been influenced and compromised by most of his cabinet appointees. I want a lot of that old guard gone too. If they stay, they will do the same to the country as they did under Kiir. We err when we get into individual personality cults for or against a single man.

He is very big dictator now he will be like any other dictator in the africa. people just need to accept anything he says now that it’s because he removed vice president and nothing happened, so there is possibility he may say no election. No one will do something to prevent that happening.

Mr Elhag Paul
I am one of your fans. I have never thought for once that you harbour sallow reasoning and would go so low like that. While I disagree with some of Mr Jalabi’s ideas but do agree with some of the facts he stated. For instance, the killings, land grabbing, insecurity, corruption & the list goes on and on without end. Why would you think it was bad for the Former government in united Sudan in killing and marginalising south Sudanese while it is good for tribal Dinka to oppress and kill its own citizens? Here I quote some of Joana’s writings in case you did not read her article;

“The SPLM government under the careful watch of the security officer turned president, has introduced new vices in our society. It will be fair to say that more people have died in the hands of the SPLM government than they did in the hands of jallaba at least in some quarters.
Places that didn’t know violence before are today routinely being rocked by senseless killings as if there is no government in the land. Speculations that these atrocities were being committed by security agents fell on deaf ears.”

Brother Elhag, if you have run out of ideas please leave others to continue where you have ended rather than disgracing yourself. As someone who lives in the western world you ought to have known better that anyone else in South Sudan that the world has become global. This means that what happens in one part of the world affects somewhere in the world such as in the case of two Sudans.

Aw Joseph,
You are the same guy who posted a comment as Jalabi. We left you Sudantribune, it should rather be called south sudan tribune since it is dominated by south sudanese, but again you follow us unto here. You will receive the same bombardment.

Aw Joseph,
You have a chicken brain. I have opposed Jalabi all along. I had full praise for el Hag Paul for his tough and quick reply to Jalabi.
For your information, I am a South Sudanese from Lakes State. Understand?

Dear AW Joseph
Greetings. I understand where you are coming from, but it appears that you may have misunderstood the issue here and that is OK as long as we can correspond with each other.
First, Joana and I share a lot and I fully concur with the views she has eloquently expressed in her intelligently written article. I have no problem with the facts that Joanna has put in the public domain and I unreservedly support her.
However, I take issue with people who do not have our country at heart but want to use our dreadful experience to confuse our people more. Jalabi is that type of a person. He thinks he can fool us by latching on the abuses of the Jieng to propagate reunion of Sudan and South Sudan. That to me is insulting of us South Sudanese and unacceptable. Hence my response to him (Jalabi).
My reply to Jalabi does not mean that I do not accept the fact that the Jieng are abusing us in South Sudan. As far as I am concerned the atrocities committed by the Jieng is our number one problem to solve among ourselves as South Sudanese and we already are doing it and we will continue to fight it until victory is achieved for all of us South Sudanese to live in a peaceful country.
Simply put, our internal problems are our problem and Arabs should not come to exploit our difference when we very well know that their intention is not good.
Now my brother Joseph, given what I have said, do I make any sense?
All the best and Alluta Continua.

Dear AW Joseph
It seems like you are terribly confused here. Your support for Joana Adam’s article is one thing, and if you read all through you will realize that you are not alone in that. However Mr. Joseph, your unprovoked condemnation of Elhag Paul, in favour of the Jalabi’s reunification call will get you more enemies than you have initially bargained for.
If you say that the Dinka are now the problem, do you in any way need a mocking sympathy from a sworn in enemy like the kinds of Jalabi and company, before you can stand your ground?
Sober up my confused friend. Your nostalgia for your Jalabi friend has nothing to do with how you can prove yourself a force worth reckoning in what is now an independent RSS.
Elhag has not run out of ideas as you would want to protray, and nowhere in his response to your Jalabi friend has he supported any of the mess the two countries are right now in. But it does’t warrant any foolish talks of reunion with the North again. Not today, not tomorrow, and not in the future.
My advice to you is to keep away from these Jalaba illusions of reunion. Why not fight your own ground as a South Sudanese, away from these malicious Northerners!

Joana, you gave an excellent overview of the political philosophical thinking. Awesome! I thought this was one of the best political analysis supported with scad of fact. well written, interesting and very informative. Joana, you are more blunt and honest in your analysis. You are a great light for freedom and a voice of reason in a day when our country is in its very death throes.

We have seen what this government has done to the people of South Sudan in day light- the lost of lives, insecurity, corruption, nepotism, tribalism and the list goes on—- The question is, What can we do to stop this corrupt government (tyrant) in South Sudan come 2015 before it is too late?

Because if we allow Kiir another five years come 2015, we will have destroyed our beloved South Sudan. This is a homework for all of us. God bless you and others like Alhag, Dr Jac Ramba, Kuir, Karlo Akol who continue to keep the discussion going – and May God Bless the people of South Sudann

This article was written with greater wisdoms and I believe the readers must understand that the long Journey is not yet completed. Kiir must watch his back or pack’s his personal belongings in 2015. Long Live Joana, you made my day happy.

Special article for intellectuals, it’s not good to let the sleeping lies. When shall we exercise our rights as first citizen without threats and intimidation from our leaders which we personally elected? Kiir should understand the principles of democracy and face challenges from other colleagues. What a leader who fears to face challenges and critics from whom he is the boss of the bosses? Kiir days are numbered without circulating with wrong doers from his tribes.
To hell with kiir dictatorship rule. We need a leader who possesses all qualities of a leadership without discrimination of tribes, majorities etc..

Mr Elhaj, i accept ur views but which i will not accept your racist- oppressing words (Pls go away with trivial Arab propaganda..) . Is this democracy taught to U by your masters in the west?. I want to tell you something, there is no RACISM in democracy if U really believe in democracy. I do think this is free platform open to all contradicting views coming from different people whether they are Arabs or African or Asian let alone ur former country man shared with U sometime in the past same nationality.. same education and same other utilities, this is history you can not deny ..If the owners of this site tell me this site exclusively for southerners i would go as U said to me.
you mentioned what you called “cleansing African decent in Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan.” We are all sudanese whether darfurian or Funj Beja or Arab or northern nubian for where I hail from and we are one nation and we able to co-exist together.
Pls keep away Ur rotten goods, no one will buy it… as for unity if you do not agree with this view this Ur right but you can not impose it on others, at least there are some portions who believe in that view.
I want remind u just yesterday there was demonstration before south sudan national assembly raising the slogan of unity and chanting unity unity…For Ur own people in Equatoria.
Come down from Ur heavenly paradise, then they will tell you who took their land in Juba, Nimule, Yei and Kajo kaji.

Dear Jalabi
I have no time to discuss Sudan’s rotten history with you. The facts of your terrorist state (The Sudan) are there in the public domain. For example, in the USA state department, in the UN and African Union.
We in the South Sudan made an informed decision in January 2011 by voting for an independent country called Republic of South Sudan. The referendum results should tell you that the people of South Sudan want nothing to do with terrorists. Full stop.
If you were a true democrat you would be fighting Bashir on behalf of the people of Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile rather than dreaming to re-unite the Sudan’s. Now bugger off with your petty propaganda and leave us South Sudanese to solve our problems.

We may be the gangs of tribalists as you stated, however none of us have wished to betray the freedom of the people of South Sudan. In fact, the recent civil war had claimed the lives of 2.5 million of South Sudanese. It had affected each and every single tribe in South Sudan. Also 98.8% people had voted in the referendum for the independence of RSS regardless of our tribal and political differences.

Please don’t stab people on the back. I don’t mind having Jalabi on this forum provided that he/she keeps his/her nose out of our tribal and political affairs. What is wrong with the unity of the tribal warlords to gang up against the common enemy Jalaba who is spying and propagating for the reunification of the two Sudans?

Long live Joana. You could be a woman but have a stomach of a man. If we have many Joanas South Sudan would be a better place for all of us. Thank you, Joana for the wisdom and courage you have shown through your article.
I wish you could lead our country one day instead of these current jackals. Why not?

Dear AWJoseph
If you are truly a South Sudanese I want to see putting Jalabi in his box and not supporting him in anyway to come back to South Sudan. The ball is in your court to prove yourself. Your credibility in on the line, brother. You need to come clean on your relationship with Jalabi. You can not sit on the fence on this issue as it is critical to our country. If you fail to make your position clear it clearly shows you are an Arab spy planted to confuse our people and hence we will expose your dubious background so that you are not taken seriously. It is up to you to redeem yourself.

I just want to talk about one point you mentioned in your Article, “Making of a Tyrant Salva Kiir: Not yet Uhuru”
You said that someone with PhD education is not necessary to be the president of the country, South Sudan. In my view I am convinced that the more educated the president the more he will deliver good services to his people and his country. This time we need someone with big mind who sees all tribes of South Sudan as one tribe which be called South Tribe not just only working on behalf of one tribe, so-called Dinka or Bhar el ghazal.
Someone with superior feeling that loves all tribes and feels compassion for all of us. Someone not against well educated or intellectual people; so you southerners don’t ignore well educated people. Education is a light and means smart ideas to govern the country. This time we need someone with widened mind because we need to recover the ten years of depression of Salva Kiir Government

“There should be no ill feelings from our allies over the case of Wani”. who are the allies of Equatoria? are they regions or tribes in South Sudan?
Such statements of forming regional or tribal allies for political purposes, kill the spirit of nationalism and the existence of vibrant political parties in South Sudan. what we need are political parties, their supporters and their political alliance among themselves, but not community allies.

Dear Elhaj Paul
You are not telling the truth, neither AU nor UN consider Sudan a terrorist state, do not make it up please.
Only ur masters in USA for political motives. Still insist on your suppressive mode by talking to ur colleague AW Joseph in rigid way, just because the guy speaks his mind…. ur crying from ur government on the claim that it oppresses other views and at same time u want to do so with Mr Joseph ..what a hypocrisy!!!
tell me what ur difference from the killers of activist Abraham Issac . Who are U to put yourself on position to issue certificates of patriotism? this man is a spy and that is not, it is shame on U. U did nothing for ur people being oppressed and killed on the streets of Juba at day light, do you consider posting comments on the internet is a resistance to free ur people from the hegemony of Jieng?
Then you will wait until resurrection to get ur people free. The true freedom seekers right on Juba fighting for their dignity not like U addicted and spoiled with western life.

Dear Jalabi
Just a reminder to serve as an answer to your nonesense.
Do you remember the Sudan government in the 90s despatching terrorist to Addis Ababa to assessinate former Egyption president Husni Mubarak. Revisit the narrative of that time and you will find out what AU thought about your government.
Again, please jog your memory and revisit how your murderous president Bashir was referred to The Hague. Was it not the United Nations Security Council that referred your government to the Hague for terrorising the people of Darfur? How can you then deny that the AU and the UN does not view you as terrorists? Please wakeup.
As with regards to AW Joseph, he is not my colleague. He is a depraved Arab, in fact he is an Arab spy masquerading as a South Sudanese with your agenda of confusing the people of South Sudan.
Why don’t you just concentrate on your issues in the Sudan and leave us alone.
Believe you me, there will be no unity with you now or in the future. Now, as I earlier said I have no time to engage sour losers crying for unity. Bugger off. .

Dear Elhag
During the France Revolution, The French People had this to say, “it’s better to be ruled by one LION than a hundred RATS.” In the case of South Sudan I have this to say, it would be better to be ruled by one lion (Omer Bashir) than Hundred rats (Salva Kiir + Jienge.)
If you were to come down back home and privately speak to our people in the streets of Juba, Wau, Malakal, other towns or villages throughout the country they would tell you they regret voting for independence. WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Joana Adams summed it up in her master piece, “The SPLM government under the careful watch of the security officer turned president, has introduced new vices in our society. It will be fair to say that more people have died in the hands of the SPLM government than they did in the hands of jallaba at least in some quarters.]”
SOME THING NEW HAD BEEN INTRODUCED IN OUR SOCIETY….. Please, explain what is it???????

Dear AW Joseph
Your comment has finally given you away. Your writing and the voice from it can not be mistaken to any group of people other than the Arabs. So now you have revealed yourself unknowingly and your ulterior motives. Your reference to the French Revolution is very interesting. It shows that you are still living in the 20 century. That is very sad and it also tells us why the Sudan has broken up and will continue to break up further because you just do not get it. You in the Sudan are so thick that you can not learn from your experience and history.

To use what ‘The French People’ said over 200 years ago as an analogy with ‘Salva Kiir+Jienge’ unfortunately spoils your case. First of all, the saying:’ It is better to be ruled by one LION than a hundred RATS’ is racist and reflects the supremacist thinking and language in Europe at that time. This language was responsible for the genocide against Jews, Roma people and people of colour generally.

Further it is the same language and your Islamic supremacist ideology that you the Arabs used against the people of South Sudan which resulted in carnages and massacres of over 3 million people in South Sudan. Melancholically you are still continuing with it in Darfur, Kordofan and South Blue Nile. No wonder your president is an indicted criminal turned fugitive from ICC.

I accept that Kiir has committed crimes against humanity but to call him and the Jieng as “rats” beggars believe. Come on ya Yousif, the Jieng are human beings and you can not dehumanise them simply like that to remove them from the realm of humanity. You must be a depraved person with extreme genocidal thoughts like your president. Remember Bashir called us South Sudanese as insects during the Panthou crisis. Your other late brother Gadaffi used the same language against his people and ironically he ended up being pulled from a culvert in a dehumanised manner. I know that you the Arabs share the same views against Africans generally hence your obnoxious dehumanisation of the Jieng, but this is 21st century and we will not let you to continue abusing us. If you are a civilised man you need to apologise to the Jieng for this serious offence.

We the South Sudanese people will deal with Kiir and we do not want your support. Another thing, for sure Joanna Adams will not agree with your views. Now please leave us alone to solve our problems. Bugger off.

El Hag Paul,
I followed through the comments posted by Aw Joseph and I concurr with you that he is not a South Sudanese. Leave him alone. We defeated them, the Arabs I mean. There is nothing else anyone can do aboutthe existence of a country called South Sudan, inhabited and managed by black African men and women. Uniting Sudan and South Sudan is never again possible even in centuries.

We all agree with Elhag Paul that AW Joseph is indeed a Jalaba. But I disagree with you when you stated this and I quote, “We defeated them, the Arabs I mean”. We did not defeat them and we would never defeat them and it is why we choose to separate from them.

Leave Jallaba alone.. Let him bark and hallucinate about reuniting the two Sudans to his liking. We all know it is a wishful thinking. As Dr. Ramba put it well that there is no reunion with Sudan “Not today, not tomorrow, and not in the future”. Pure and simple. Let him go worry about their chaotic problems in the North.

One of the things, I have always hated in life is to be patronised. When you patronise a person or a people in this particular case, you are in effect saying that they cannot think for themselves and therefore cannot make good decisions and should be rescued from themselves.
In my introductory paragraph, I did mention that human beings are by nature autonomous; that is self governing. And that it is this ability to be autonomous that gives them their humanity. Under Sharia law, one woman equals half a man. Therefore in old Sudan, I was not a complete human being, I was technically a third class citizen or worse.
Supposing now because of bad governance in Juba, I feel marginalised; that is. I feel like I am being treated like a second class citizen, would I swap my second class citizenship for a third class one? Certainly not. Some people like AW Joseph, accessing this forum might be dreaming for reunification of the two Sudans, they are entitled to their wishful thinking.

The people of South Sudan have spoken loud and clear when over 97% voted for independence in January 2011. I am happy that I did my bit in this resounding rejection of anything Northern. Therefore the unprecedented overwhelming rejection of the North, closes a painful chapter in our history which we do not wish to revisit.
South Sudan might have started the path to nation building on a wrong footing but the path can be and will be made straight. As others on this forum have pointed out, we have made our decision and we will deal with the consequences.